This paper introduces the present situation of clinical engineering in China and in the United States, and analyzes the gaps between them. Finally, from the staff's configuration and the work scope of clinical engineering, the developing trends and implementation strategies of China's clinical engineering are presented too.
Biomedical Engineering ; trends ; China ; United States

Urology is an ancient academic discipline, and its rapid development is due to the combination between medicine and engineering. The development of urology in China is an example of the combination of industry-academia-research based on the progress of science and technology. This paper mainly summarizes the recent advances of interdisciplinary combination between medicine and engineering in urology.
Biomedical Engineering ; trends ; China ; Humans ; Interdisciplinary Research ; Urology ; trends

This paper mainly discusses the interdisciplinary research of the life science and information technology, and also describes some research topics and direction, such as bioinformatics, biomedical optics, micro & nanotechnologies, bionics, etc.
Biomedical Engineering ; trends ; Biomedical Research ; Biomedical Technology ; Interdisciplinary Communication ; Mechanotransduction, Cellular ; Medical Informatics ; Molecular Biology

It is no doubt that the gene therapy using recombinant engineering cells provides a novel approach to many refractory diseases. However, the transplant rejection from the host's immune system against heterogeneous cells has been the main handicap of its clinical application. The modern cell micro-encapsulation technique with good immune isolation makes it possible to overcome this problem and has shown potential application foreground in clinical therapies for a lot of diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Hemophiliac disease. This article reviews mainly the relative materials and techniques in processing micro-encapsulation, the host cells used to construct the recombinant genetic engineering cells and application of cell micro-encapsulation technique in the field of gene therapy.
Biomedical Engineering ; methods ; trends ; Cell Transplantation ; methods ; trends ; Genetic Therapy ; trends ; Humans ; Miniaturization ; Tissue Engineering ; methods ; trends

Application research on human amniotic membrane has been carried out for nearly a hundred years and people found that there were more than dozens of kinds bioactive substances in the amniotic membrane. It has been proved that the amniotic membrane has a lot of functions, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-virus, anti-angiogenic and promoting cell apoptosis, and soon. As effective treatments, amniotic membrane has been used for adjunctive therapy of burns, trauma, ophthalmic damage, dermatopathya. Recent advances of amniotic membrane and amniotic membrane-derived cells research have led to enormous progress in skin tissue engineering, vascular tis- sue engineering, biological scaffold material, and biological sustained-release materials. Amniotic membrane and amniotic membrane derived cells have a significant advantage and unique charm in medical field. Therefore, they have higher research value and broad prospects in the applications.
Amnion ; Biomedical Research ; trends ; Humans ; Tissue Engineering ; Treatment Outcome

This essay introduces the new development of rotary impeller blood pump technology in three design aspects, i.e. pump structure, bearing and seal, control system. Moreover, an expectation for the development trend of artificial heart technology is presented.
Biomedical Engineering ; Equipment Design ; Heart, Artificial ; trends ; Humans

Carbon nanotubes, a new member of the carbon material family, can be considered as graphite sheets rolled-up into cylinders with diameters ranging in the nanometer scale. In recent years, carbon nanotubes have attracted intensive interests because of their unique nanostructures and outstanding mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties. In this paper, the structures and basic features of carbon nanotubes were described in brief. The research advances in the carbon nanotubes on the specific recognition of biomolecules by surface modification and functionalization, in the enhancement to cell growth as culture scaffolds in vitro, and in the improvement of biocompatibility for implantable biomedical material were reviewed. Also comments were made on their potential applications in biomedical sensor and biomedical microelectrics.
Biocompatible Materials ; chemistry ; Biomedical Engineering ; trends ; Nanotechnology ; methods ; trends ; Nanotubes, Carbon ; chemistry

Prefabricated flap is so named as the skin flaps is prepared by prefabricating a circulation-rich skin flap by implanting a named blood vessel or a portion of fascia which is incorporated with rich blood supply. After the flap has been proven as a flap supplied by ample blood supply, it is transplanted to a wound as a local or free transplantation. The core of prefabricated flap is vascularization. Beside the different methods of prefabrication, vascularization can be facilitated by use of growth factors and cytokines, skin and soft tissue expansion technique, and biomaterial. Prefabricated flap is currently widely used in clinic. With the advances in the research of prefabrication technology and advances in its clinical application, prefabricated flap transplantation is becoming a promising strategy in wound healing.
Biomedical Research ; trends ; Humans ; Skin ; Skin Transplantation ; trends ; Surgical Flaps ; Tissue Engineering ; methods

Tissue engineering can serve as an alternative treatment for a malfunctioning or lost organ. Isolated and expanded cells adhere to a temporary scaffold, proliferate, and secrete their own extracellular matrices (ECM) replacing the biodegrading scaffold. The genitourinary system, composed of the kidney, ureter, bladder, urethra, and genital organs, is exposed to a variety of possible injury sites from the time of fetal development. All the urinary organs are mainly composed of smooth muscle and uroepithelial cells and which may be approached by tissue engineering techniques. A large number of materials, including naturally-derived and synthetic polymers have been utilized to fabricate prostheses for the genitourinary system. Usually, whenever there is a lack of native urologic tissue, reconstruction is considered with native non-urologic tissue, such as, gastrointestinal segments, or skin or mucosa from multiple body sites. Engineering tissues using selective cell transplantation may provide a means to create functional new genitourinary tissues. This review concerns urinary tissues reconstructed with bladder uroepithelial cells and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) implanted on biodegradable polymer matrices.
Animal ; Biomedical Engineering*/methods ; Bioreactors ; Cytological Techniques/trends ; Human ; Stem Cells/physiology ; Urinary Tract*

Biomaterials for medical use have been developed in accordance with progress of the fields of medicine, biochemistry, material science, and pharmaceutics. Advances in the medicine have changed the concept of surgery from the deletion of damage tissue for the preservation of the remaining healthy tissue to the reconstruction or replacement of damaged tissue by promoting regeneration of the natural tissue. All the materials used in medicine should be biocompatible. Conventional materials such as metals, ceramics, and synthetic polymers are usually bioinert and support the structural defects. But recently introduced biomaterials are designed to provide biological functions as much a possible by mimicking natural tissue structures.
Biocompatible Materials* ; Biomedical Engineering ; Ceramics ; Human ; Metals ; Polymers ; Prostheses and Implants/trends*